Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. - Napoleon Hill

The first step in accomplishing anything is to decide you want to do it. As a senior executive, I mentored many younger employees. The first question I would typically ask a new mentee is “What is it you want to do with your career?” More often than not the response I received was “I don’t know”. This is an acceptable response from someone right out of college or from someone who may have just joined your company. But many times this response came from people who were five and ten years into their careers. I wanted to respond to these individuals: “Unfortunately, my crystal ball isn’t working so well today”.

There are many things a mentor can help you with, but deciding what your goals are and what you want to get out of your life and career are things that only YOU can decide. After all, each of us defines success very differently. If you don’t know wha...

Kids on the playground are not the only ones dealing with bullies these days. Unfortunately, there are quite a few grown-up, corporate bullies out there too.

In fact, a WBI study found that 57% of women are targeted for workplace bullying. And not all of that ugly treatment is by men—some of that bullying is by other women. In a nationwide poll by the Employment Law Alliance, 45% of American workers say they’ve experienced workplace abuse. This study also showed that 40% of workplace bullies are women. They also found that female bullies pick on other women more than 70% of the time.

Why are adults, including so many women in a wide range of professions, bullying each other? And if you’re being bullied, what can you do to change the dynamic?

As the first woman to hold many of the leadership positions in a Fortune 200 company, I sometimes found myself in this situation. Since a woman had never held these positions, so...

I was recently a panelist along with some other key executives at an industry forum. The discussion centered around networking and relationships. A question was asked for advice on how to meet someone for the first time and begin an initial conversation. One of the panelists,the state President of a global company, confided that she is an introvert and used to dread going to meetings where she did not know anyone. She shared some great advice handed down to her from a mentor.

Her mentor encouraged her to introduce yourself and then ask the other person what they do for a living. No matter the response, say, “that sounds like a really hard job”. She said that invariably the other person would dive in and give you lots of detail about just how hard their job is. In that conversation you will find lots of nuggets of information to continue to move the conversation along.

Developing a relationship is much more about listening to others than trying to tell the...

When asked about the thing most managers dread about their job, the number one response is giving constructive feedback. Yet this is the most important task for any leader. As someone who came out of college and was leading a team at 22 years old, I wish I’d had some guidance on how to make feedback sessions more effective for my team members. After 33 years in corporate America, here is a simple outline I learned to use for making the most of a feedback session.

Before the meeting:

Find a private location to have the discussion and notify the employee that you want to have a discussion about performance. This will help take the surprise out of the meeting.

Beware of feedback overload. Most individuals can get overwhelmed when you are giving them feedback on more than two areas, so be sure to focus your discussion on a few specific items.

Do your homework. Make sure you can give specific examples of problem areas or areas where the em...

Confidence is a learned skill, just like leadership and public speaking.

The way we become more confident is to try new things. When we try new things, we learn what does and does not work for us and eventually conquer that new skill.

In talking with my friend Dr. Peter Buckley, the Dean of the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University and former Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the school, I asked if some people were born more confident. Dr. Buckley’s reply was “We are all born with the same innate confidence. It is experience that builds or destroys confidence in anything we attempt. If we fail at anything, it is important that we keep trying. This is how confidence and knowledge are ultimately built.”

This is why failure is such an important part of our growth. Failure is not truly failure unless we do not learn from it and do not try again.

Join me and PGA Professional, Jackie Cannizzo for an interactive program

Many of you have heard me say that if you don’t like golf, don’t golf,

but on November 2nd,

I dare you to get in the game with me.

Join me at the Roswell Country Club for the first annual DARE To Golf event where you’ll learn everything you need to know about golf along with tips to take charge of your career.

DARE To Golf

Monday, November 2, 2015

11:30 AM to 2:30 PM (EST)

Country Club of Roswell
2500 Club Springs Drive
Roswell, GA 30076

DARE to Golf is a program based on the coaching principles of PGA Professional Jackie Cannizzo’s 30 plus years of teaching golf and leading women’s initiatives. In the corporate world, women can often fall behind because they are intimidated by the male-dominated sport. There are very few easy entries into the game, but DARE to Golf works with professional coaches and golfers to put women in a position to hold their own in the office and on the golf course.

You have two ears, are you using them? Here’s how to leverage them more effectively to be a better listener.

Listening is a key skill for any leader, especially in today’s world where leaders are more dependant than ever on feedback from the front line. Things are changing too fast for any individual to keep up in a vacuum. Having an environment where people feel free to speak up, and respected when they do, is vital.

For many years I struggled with feedback I received that I was not a good listener. In my efforts to improve in this area I found a couple of changes to my behavior that proved invaluable.

Three Tips to Become a Better Listener

Seek Input To Glean Insight From Others: When you are the leader it is especially important that you seek input from others upfront before stating your views. I am an extrovert and quickly ready to share my views. When you do this, you shut down input from subordinates and others who may not feel...

When writing my book DARE, I interviewed many women, but also men. In talking with the men I asked: “If you could give women in the workplace one piece of advice, what would it be?” The number one response I received was “I wish women would not be so defensive when I give them constructive feedback." Many men said they would not give candid feedback to women because women typically get too emotional or upset. Women managers, on the other hand felt that men got very combative when receiving their feedback, leading to a breakdown of the process.

My initial response was to tell both men and women they may want to think about how their feedback was delivered. We are all better able to absorb feedback when it is delivered in a caring fashion. However, feedback really is a gift. I have learned over the years it is only people who really care about us who will take the time to give us honest and candid feedback. ...